Bachelor Party (1984) (Blu-ray)

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All Rise...

The last party Judge Michael Nazarewycz attended where a donkey died was Democratic, not Bachelor.

Editor's Note

Our review of Bachelor Party,
published June 1st, 2001, is also available.

The Charge

Shocking, Shameless, Sinful, Wicked. And the party hasn't even started.

Opening Statement

In this space, I had originally thought to ponder the success of Tom Hanks
over the whole of his (still thriving) career and how, arguably, he has had the
greatest TV-to-film transition of anyone who has taken that path. (I can also
argue that George Clooney is gunning for that spot.) Instead, I thought I'd take
a more personal route.

Bachelor Party is the only film I have ever watched backwards.

I was a huge Hanks fan from the first episode of TV's Bosom Buddies and when he made the
leap to the big screen, I leapt with him. If that can be described as "in for a
dime," when he released Bachelor Party, I was in for a dollar. In
addition to Hanks, the film had everything my 16-year-old self wanted in a
movie: nudity, raunchy humor, foul language, and Hair Band Prom Queen Tawny
Kitaen. With the boom of the mid-'80s VHS rental market, the tape quickly found
itself in heavy rental rotation in my house, and repeat viewings begot various
ways to repeat-view the film, including watching it on REW SCAN from the last
credit to the opening card.

To this day, Bachelor Party remains one of my favorites from Hanks
and from the 1980s. I jumped at the chance to see it on Blu-ray…and I
swear to you I watched it forwards.

Facts of the Case

On a routine dinner out with the guys, bus driver Rick (Tom Hanks, Saving
Mr. Banks) announces that he and his girlfriend, Debbie (Tawny Kitaen, Witchboard), are getting married. Since
boys will be boys, Rick's boys plan a bachelor party to end all bachelor parties
for their childhood pal.

But the path to marital bliss must go through more than Rick's big night.
Debbie is fearful that Rick might chase after one last hurrah. Debbie's wealthy
family is furious that their baby girl is marrying such a blue collar doofus.
Debbie's wannabe future husband, Cole (Robert Prescott, Burn After Reading), first tries
to bribe Rick away from Debbie, then turns to more violent means. And then there
is Debbie again, this time with her bridal party in tow, taking proactive
measures to disrupt the boys' big night.

There is also a dead donkey.

The Evidence

Thirty years removed from its release, there are several ways to approach
watching Bachelor Party.

One way to watch Bachelor Party is to discover (or rediscover) the
early excellence of Tom Hanks. His charm is effortless and he plays the goofball
not as the village idiot (a la Will Ferrell and other Frat Pack members of
today), but as the court jester, one who is smart but bored and livening up
everyone's life by playing goofy. You can see Hanks' cleverness in scenes where
he he drops the goofy facade; that's when Hanks shows us the real Rick. There's
a great moment when he and Debbie are laying in bed and they are both staring
into the distance. She is insecure, obviously, but his worry is not about
getting caught, it's about getting through it. This is early Hanks foreshadowing
what would come in future great performances.

Another way to watch Bachelor Party is as a piece of '80s nostalgia.
Several era-appropriate benchmarks of the decade stand out. The music is from
'80s chart dominators like Wang Chung, The Police, and Oingo Boingo. The hair
and clothes are like, totally. And of course there is young Hanks, along with
post-Ratt/pre-Whitesnake Kitaen, sporting her sassiest Nina Blackwood-esque,
just-been-done locks and fabu Merry-Go-Round ensembles. There is also Adrian
Zmed. The TV star, who had been sniffing around success until he found some on
T.J. Hooker, is all good looks and
teeth, but what he lacks in acting skills he makes up for in hair. Oh, Zmed's
hair should have gotten its own credit. The film is also something of a rarity
for the '80s: a raunchy sex comedy that doesn't involve teens.

Hollywood of the 1980s produced an inordinate number of sex
comedies—several of them legendary—that centered on high school or
college kids. Films like Fast Times at
Ridgemont High, Revenge of the
Nerds, Porky's, Risky
Business, and others all featured kids doing the same crazy things the grown
men of Bachelor Party do here. This brings me to the last way to watch
Bachelor Party: as an entry ahead of its time.

The adult comedies of today—movies with attached names like Judd
Apatow, Seth Rogen, Steve Carell, and others—all stand on the shoulders of
Bachelor Party. They have ridiculous premises, drug (and other substance)
references, more dick jokes than you shake your stick at, and always plenty of
room for sex. Just like Bachelor Party.

And they are no more or less funny, and no more or less raunchy than
Bachelor Party. The details may vary from film to film, but the the
over-the-top factor remains the same. I'm not about to say that writers Bob
Israel (Ace Ventura: Pet
Detective) and Pat Proft (Real
Genius), and writer/director Neal Israel (Police Academy), were prescient in any
way, but they certainly understood what formula worked, and it's a formula that
has stood the test of time.

I was disappointed with Bachelor Party (Blu-ray)'s 1.85:1/1080p HD
transfer. There is nothing special about the imagery presented, and the varying
degrees of graininess, particularly in the lesser-lit scenes, give the film a
tired look. The same can be said for the DTS-HD 1.0 Master Audio track. The
sound is okay, but at times the dialogue sounds tinny and is, overall, uneven
throughout. The choice to go 1.0 surprised me, considering a previous DVD
release offered both 4.0 Surround and 2.0 Mono. Perhaps the technical
presentation of the Blu is an effort to give the viewing experience that '80s
rental feel.

The extras look plentiful but amount to almost nothing. All six non-trailer
entries have been taken from a single source and appear to have been promotional
shorts, possibly used as quick-hit features on major-market "PM Magazine"-type
infotainment shows that were popular in the '80s. This is not only evident by
the repeated appearance of the same narrator and other similarities, but also
because some clips and soundbites are repeated from short to short. The rough,
unrestored entries were shoddily assembled for this disc, as evidenced by when
the source video ends and the final image freezes, yet several seconds remain on
the disc, leaving the viewer with a still image of Tawny Kitaen or Neal Isreal.
It's as if someone pushed "STOP RECORD" a few seconds late on the Blu burner.
It's so glaring, I thought my player was malfunctioning.

* Behind the Scenes—Three minutes consisting mostly of clips from the
film with narration. There are also soundbites from Hanks, Zmed, Kitaen, and
Neal Israel.

* An American Tradition—It's another three minutes like the first
entry. Sound here comes from Bob Israel, producer Ron Moler, Zmed, Hanks,
Kitaen, and Neal Israel.

* While the Men Play—Two more minutes of lather, rinse, repeat. Kitaen
and Neal Israel speak.

* Tom Hanks Interviews—The three entries below, running 2-3 minutes in
total, feature the star discussing the project. The only entry of note is Hanks'
confession for his boredom with episodic television (which is what put him on
the map). From Television to Movies (1:30), Tom Hanks Goes to a Bachelor Party
(0:20), Hanks on Television (1:00).

* Theatrical Trailer

The Rebuttal Witnesses

In true Hollywood fashion, the filmmakers weren't exactly sure how to bring
their tale to a close. Short of a brief epilogue, the film ends with a
ridiculous chase sequence and a fight between Rick and Cole. Even in the
construct of the crazy story, this is too much.

Closing Statement

Bachelor Party is required '80s viewing. However, if you already have
a DVD copy, I can't see investing in this. If all you have is a VHS copy,
proudly display that relic on a shelf and pick up this copy for repeat viewings
in either direction.